I think we lost it with Herbert Walker Bush. Once in office, he continued a rather hard line foreign policy but stepped to the left domestically (sound familiar?) and left room for Ross Perot, who hopped all over the place,--right left, & center; and split the party.
Ya' know, I've been a solid Republican since I could vote:
Reagan. At first I thought RR was a bit of a flake, But we just had to get rid of JE Carter
Reagan again. This time with feeling.
Bush the elder. Maybe some of Ronnie rubbed off on him?
Perot was tempting but I pulled the lever again for GHWBush.
Bob Dole, although he didn't deserve it.
Wholeheartedly for GW Bush.
So I've been mostly a straight ticket GOPer for the last 20 some years, and I don't regret my past votes. But GW Bush (& his policies) isn't in the GOP anymore; Or at least not my GOP. He's a big-government Republicrat.
"Would you like big-government(R) or big-government(D) with your socialism?"
No thanks, I don't want either. I'll give my vote for someone that's anti-big-government.
If that means a Democrat wins, well that'll suck, but maybe the Republicans in Congress will grow a pair and fight some of the worst of the nanny-state proposals. With any luck, the GOP will rally against a Demican pres. and can find a candidate with policies a little to the right of a New York Times editor.
Until then, I'll vote for Paul and at least know I didn't vote for either evil.
When I was young and foolish I threw away a vote on Perot....then I matured a bit! (Realized my vote did count...Didn't like what we got! And realized it was partly my fault!)
I'll vote for someone who can get elected. Call it the worse of two evils. If I want to protest it'll be with phone calls, emails, signs not with my precious vote~